Lawyer abandons career to become artist

People come to create visually stunning pieces of artwork naturally, others take different paths to realise their dreams. We recently spoke to ex lawyer and now illustrative artist Lucy Haque about the ideas behind her work and how she came about her practice.

Hello, tell me a little bit about yourself and what led you to your current practice.

I used to be a lawyer, but a few years ago (after some extensive some soul-searching) I quit my day job and enrolled on an art foundation course at City Lit, and haven’t looked back. I specialised in graphic design and printmaking on the foundation course, but my current practice is drawing – partly because I love that I can take a pen and sketchbook with me anywhere without the need for any equipment. However, there are many other areas of art and design that I would like to experiment with – I feel that I am still at the very beginning of my journey as an artist.

Tell me about what you’re currently working on.

My youngest daughter was born four weeks ago, which doesn’t leave much time for drawing! I am on maternity leave, but when I start work again I am intending to finish a series of small-scale ink drawings, which I would like to produce as limited edition digital prints.

How long does it take to complete one of your drawings?

How long is a piece of string?! The time taken can vary immensely depending on the size and level of detail of the work, and the medium I am working in. I love drawing with a dip pen and ink, and this is a lot more time consuming than drawing with my Graphik Line Maker pens. I’d say most of my works take a couple of weeks – I often have a number of drawings in progress at the same time though, so it is hard to be exact!

You choose to print your work with theprintspace, what do you enjoy the most about printing your artwork?

Creating prints with the Printspace has enabled me to promote and sell my drawings to a wider audience, which I think can be a huge challenge for artists who are just starting out. I have enjoyed the process of photographing, scanning and editing my drawings digitally to create prints from my drawings (it gives me great satisfaction cleaning up my images in Photoshop and Illustrator!) and it has been fantastic to receive my prints back from the Printspace and see the quality of the images.

What do you want to turn your hand to next?

I would like to do more printmaking – in particular etching. So far I have only worked on relatively small etching plates, but I would like to work on a much larger scale. I would also like to do some screen printing – the majority of my hand drawings and digital prints are monochrome but I would like to use screen printing techniques to experiment more with colour.

Making art sales can be hard, how has thehub changed the experience of selling art online?

The Hub is my first experience of selling art online, so for me it is too early to say, but certainly the ‘print on demand’ option makes it much easier for an artist who is just starting out as it keeps initial costs low.

What’s it been like being a hub user?

Great – everything has been straightforward, and I have been impressed with the speed at which my prints have been produced and sent out to customers.

Who has been your biggest inspiration?

Patti Smith – I have read her memoir Just Kids over and over again! It documents the beginning of her career as an artist and musician in New York in the 1970s and her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, and is a great read for all aspiring artists (and lovers of New York City).

Whose artwork/photography are you currently excited by?

I have just discovered French artist Sylvain Rieu-Pique; his large-scale drawings are organic, beautiful and captivating – and Bristol-based artist Ian Chamberlain; I love his detailed etchings, based on manmade structures. I follow the work of a lot of artists and designers – my current influences and inspiration include Yayoi Kusama, Grayson Perry, Richard Caldicott, Daniel Zeller, Tara Donovan and Rob Lowe (aka Supermundane) amongst others.